Google Docs just got better in the voice typing department for folks who need a break from tapping away on their keyboards. Didn’t know Google had launched voice-enabled typing for its online word processor? Well it did; way back in September 2015. The feature (accessible from the Tools menu) has received some key improvements.
The voice typing option in Google Docs was missing two important functions which essentially decide whether you can or cannot use it without having to touch the keyboard – the ability to edit as well as format text. It should now allow you to dictate notes into your headphone mic even more conveniently.
The revamped feature obeys instructions such as ‘new paragraph,’ ‘insert bullet list,’ ‘cut/copy/paste,’ ‘delete table of contents,’ and more. The full list of voice typing commands can be found here. New users are not likely to be able to jump into the task easily since the majority of us are conditioned to keyboards.
It’ll take a fair amount of practice before voice typing is as intuitive as a regular person would want it to be. Another big improvement in Google Docs is its newfound skill of recognizing several more dialects and accents. The idea is to allow users to dictate notes in the smoothest way possible.
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Individuals can now ‘voice type’ in English or Spanish without having to drop their native accent, as mentioned in the official blog post announcing the changes. As for us, no thanks, Google Docs. We’ll wait for the day you can mind-read our notes. It takes too much effort to curb those mental ‘ums’ and ‘ers.’